Schaeuble at Davos: Greece showing ‘significant progress’ towards recovery

Schaeuble warned however that “Greece remains by far the most difficult country” and said that “domestic political support in Greece is fragile,” while Greece was also burdened by a large number of migrants, a fact used by right-wing parties to create a climate of xenophobia.

“Greece was forced to implement many reforms as part of the restoration process, and social repercussions were certainly not negligible. I would not want to have to implement such a programme

in Germany,” he said. “What Greeks must bear is unbelievable. Things are moving forward, but the danger has not passed yet,” the minister noted, expressing his respect for Greeks suffering from “the needed austerity measures.”

Despite many people’s disagreements, he said, it was clear that Greece could only have succeed by a huge “haircut” of its debt – by 53 percent – which, he said, became the foundation of its rescue programme. “The Greek cup was not half-full or half-empty two years ago: it was almost empty. Now it is half full.”

Asked to comment on what would happen if more radical forces assumed rule in Greece, and whether the money already invested would be lost, Schaeuble stated the following: “In politics one has to deal with new things on a daily basis. Something always happens tomorrow. The Lehman Brothers crisis in 2009 brought something for Germany that we never thought could happen, a retraction of the GDP by 5.1 percent. Compared to this, the threat of what may happen because of Greece is manageable. But we are doing our best so the issue does not get to that point…Greece must exert a great effort and it must be explained to the Greeks over and over again that they are on the right path and facing the right direction.”

Responding to a question on the high unemployment rates in Spain and Greece, he said the crisis was not over yet and much remained to be done, but he defended Germany’s European policy and said it would continue during German Chancellor Angela Merkel’s third term in office.

source: ΑΜΝΑ